THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE 


OF 

THE INDIAN MUTINY, 


AS SET FORTH IN THE 


OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 


BY GEO. CRAWSHAY, ESQ. 

MAYOR OF GATESHEAD. 

A LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE MECHANICS’ INSTITUTION, GATESHEAD, ON 
WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 4th, 1857. 


“Lord Canning lias shown throughout the greatest courage, the greatest 
ability, and the greatest resources .”—Lord Palmerston at the Mansion 
House, November 8th. 


NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE: 

PRINTED AT THE JOURNAL OFFICE, GREY STREET, BY ANDREW CARR. 






! 



« 







' ,', ily!> 'Hb 


** 

75 < * ' i - * / 






/ i; '. ". ■; '. r \" : 


€ 


(• 




\ 






1 


\ 



I 














•? 













. i: 


1 




> 




✓ 

f. v 





i •' .) % * v - 


" « i 





/./ 


1 

u 


V 


S 





\ 


l 


I 


A 





& 








r 


*«: 







, 7 / 


•J: • ’■ 


. 


1 











/ 


I 






l 

















\ 









* * 








»< >r. 


.7 


•V/ 






v* 





THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE 

OF 

THE INDIAN MUTINY, 

AS SET FOETH IN THE 

OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE. 


BY GEO. CRAWSHAY, ESQ. 

MAYOR OF GATESHEAD. 

A LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE MECHANICS’ INSTITUTION, GATESHEAD, ; ,_0 N 
WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 4th, 1857. 


“ Lord Canning has shown throughout the greatest courage, the greatest 
ability, and the greatest resources .”—Lord Palmerston at the Mansion 
House , November 8th. 


NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE: 

PRINTED AT THE JOURNAL OFFICE, GREY STREET, BY ANDREW CARR. 



















* 




* 


























\ 












































































-* 












V. 













% 


t 


r 


✓ 


% 







V 














4 








*■ I 


» 


\ 

















£ 



9 





“In general the English have paid very great attention 
to the jurisprudence and civil legislation of India, as the funda¬ 
mental principle of their Indian government is to rule that country 
according to its own laws, customs, and privileges ; while, on the 
contrary, the other European powers that once had obtained a firm 
footing in India, formed alliances with, and attached themselves by 
preference to, the Mahometan sovereigns of the country. By this 
simple but enlightened principle in their Indian policy and ad¬ 
ministration, the English have obtained the ascendency over all 
their rivals or opponents, and have become complete masters of the 
whole of this splendid region.”— Frederick von Schlegel. Lec¬ 
tures on the Philosophy of History , 1828. 





' 












LECTURE 



Mr. B. J. Prockter having been called to the 
chair, introduced the lecturer in a brief address, in 
the course of which he said that they could not but 
respect the Mayor for the trouble he took in ob¬ 
taining and giving information on matters of public 
importance, and the interest he took in the affairs 
of this rising country. 

The Mayor of Gateshead then came forward 
amidst applause, and spoke as follows : — 

Ladies and gentlemen, my friend, Mr. Prockter, has 
been kind enough to say, in his opening speech, that he 
gave me credit for taking an interest in the affairs of this 
rising country. I am afraid that the interest which I take 
arises from the painful feeling that possibly this is a falling 
country, and falling because of the inattention paid by the 
people to that which most concerns them. The mutiny of 
the Bengal army is undoubtedly a great danger in itself; 
but, in my opinion, it is a less danger than that arising 
from the ignorance of the people of England as to 
its causes. I have, consequently made it my duty to 
inquire into those causes, and my object to night is to 
explain what they are. I have found no difficulty what¬ 
ever in ascertaining them. I have only had to make re¬ 
ference to certain official documents which were laid before 
the House of Commons in the July of this year; and I 
found, upon reading these, that the information contained in 
them is so clear, that I hold it to be impossible for two men 
to look one another in the face, after reading those docu¬ 
ments, and so much as express a doubt as to what has been 
the cause of these dreadful disasters in India. You have 
heard probably something—in fact the truth has begun to 
be stated in various directions—about greased cartridges. 
What I shall state to you to night will show that, whatever 
other causes of disaffection, and there are many, whatever 

B 


2 


other grievances, there may he in India, there are no sound 
reasons for the belief that this mutiny ever would have 
occurred, unless there had existed in the mind of the 
Hindoo a panic or belief that his religion was to be inter¬ 
fered with, and that this was to be done by means of the 
greased cartridge. That you may understand the full 
bearings of the case, it is necessary, before I commence an 
examination of the official documents, that I should say a 
few words as to the nature of caste , and what is meant by 
losing caste in India. This is indeed the more necessary, 
as it is often spoken of at the present time in the most 
flippant and careless manner. It is gravely alleged, as a 
chief fault of the East India Company, that they have 
made it a rule of government to respect the religion of the 
Hindoos ; and people talk of abolishing caste, and putting 
an end to this, as if it were the simplest matter in the 
world ! Now, the fact is, that, in the first instance, I must 
rectify an impression prevailing generally as to what caste 
means. We in England talk of caste, and talk of losing 
it; but that is a misuse of words by which we are misled 
as to what losing caste means when applied to India. When 
we use the expression losing caste in England, we only 
mean that a man falls from a higher station to a lower; 
consequently, having this meaning in our heads when 
we apply the phrase to the country whence we got 
it, we very commonly imagine that it means nothing 
more serious there. The fact is that caste is not even a 
Hindoo word, but a Portugese word signifying race, and the 
expression losing caste in India is hardly a proper one for 
what really takes place when these words are used. Losing 
caste in India is equivalent to excommunication in a Roman 
Catholic country, or rather to what excommunication was 
in the old days of the Roman Catholic Church, when of 
course it carried with it the penalties of contempt and 
persecution in this world, and damnation in the next. The 
division into castes is not confined to India, but existed 
among many other ancient nations ; and a Hindoo, when 
he commits an act by which he loses his caste, does not 
fall from a higher caste to a lower,—he does not, for ex¬ 
ample, from a Brahmin, become a Sudra ; but, should any 
of the four castes commit any of the specified acts by which 
they lose caste they are shut out from all fellowship 
with any Hindoo. A man who loses his caste loses 
his home; and his family or friends cannot speak or 
sit with him. He becomes a most miserable being 


3 


during his life on thj^ earth, and in his own belief he is 
condemned to perdition in the next. And this dreadful 
penalty falls upon the Hindoo only in consequence of a few 
offences which may be considered equivalent to the mortal 
sins of the Roman Catholic Church. Many offences may 
be committed not entailing this penalty ; but there are a few 
for which no forgiveness can be hoped. Of these some are 
moral, and some ceremonial observances. In this respect 
the Hindoos are like the Jews of old. There are some few 
observances of a ceremonial character, the violation of 
which stands upon the same level in the minds of the 
people as moral sins. Amongst these the most prominent 
are the prohibitions as to food. The eating of anything 
unclean is defilement. The cow is the sacred animal of the 
Hindoos,—the pig is alike unclean to Hindoos and Mussul- 
men. Consequently, a cartridge, greased or believed to be 
greased with the fat of cows and pigs, strikes at both, and 
for the Hindoo to put the cartridge to his lips is to commit 
one of the mortal sins : any Hindoo will rather suffer 
death than submit to it; and the order to bite this cartridge 
is one which could no more be obeyed by a Hindoo than 
could be an order to a Roman Catholic .regiment to feed 
their horses with the holy wafer. How, as I am here for 
the purpose of laying before you"evidence, I will not allow 
this to rest upon my sole testimony. I will put in some 
evidence as to the truth of what I have told you, because, 
in point of fact, the whole thing hinges upon this. Col. 
Sykes, the first witness whom I shall call, was the Chair¬ 
man of the East India Company till last year. He has 
spent the greatest part of his life in India; and I suppose 
there is no authority higher than his. In a letter to the 
Times, dated October 8th, Colonel Sykes, after showing by 
evidence that the Sepoys are willing to make many con¬ 
cessions, that there are many things they will do which are 
not strictly in accordance with their religion, that there are 
points that they will concede, proceeds to show that there 
are .points which they cannot concede, and to attempt 
to exact which will always bring about such results as we 
have seen. He states :— 

66 After the perusal of the above memorandum it will very 
naturally be asked what more could be desired or expected from native 
soldiers, and what possible cause or causes can there be to drive such 
men into mutiny—into the vengeful massacre of their European 
officers—into an utter recklessness with respect to their immediate and 
future personal interests, involving the loss of employment and the 
loss of provision in old age, of their liberal pensions from Government 


—and into exposing themselves to the risk* of a direful retributive 
vengeance. There must, then, be some fata), imperative, and irresist¬ 
ible obligation to produce such results. Sir, any one but a sciolist in 
the knowledge of" Asiatic beliefs, customs, and usages replies that 
external bodily defilement is removed by ablutions and oblations, but 
that a breach of certain alimentary laws ipso facto consigns the 
offender to excommunication and degradation, than which death is 
preferable, for his parents, his brothers, and his friends can neither 
eat nor smoke with him, nor let him drink out of their water vessels. 
He is become an out-caste. He is condemned to contempt in this 
world, and his soul is damned in the next. Now, it is very lamentable 
that in this age of reason such stern obligations should be accepted by 
human beings and be operative ; but they exist,—there they are as 
great facts. So it is lamentable that hostile religions should exist ; 
but there they are, and always have been—great facts which produced 
the conflicts of the Homoousians and the Homoiousians in our early 
church, Bartholomew’s Eve, De Montford’s bloody doings at Carcas- 
sone, Anabaptist atrocities at Munster, our Smithfield fires, Irish 
massacres, and even in these days threatened bloodshed at Belfast. 
Nor are alimentary laws of modem origin. We find that the Egyp¬ 
tians could not eat with the sons of Jacob because “ that w’as an abo¬ 
mination to the Egyptians the Jews equally were debarred by their 
usages from eating with the Gentiles, as is attested by St. Peter’s 
vision of the sheet full of animals and the command, “Rise, kill and 
eat,” and St. Peter’s reply of “ Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten 
anything that is common or unclean.” Acts x, 11—15, and at verse 
28, St. Peter adds, “Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a 
man that is a Jew to keep company or come unto one of another 
nation.” With such precedents in our own Sacred Volume we can 
the more readily understand the food obligations of the Hindoos, 
which, however, have, no doubt, increased in stringency with the 
growth of Brahminical influence since the Christian era.” 

Here I must pause to bear out Colonel Sykes. 
If you read the Bible you will find that, in the case 
of the animals taken in the ark by Noah, there was a 
distinction made between clean and unclean ; that in Deu¬ 
teronomy, speaking of animals, some are mentioned as to 
be eaten, and others as not to be eaten ; and that, in the 
case of the new converts to Christianity, as recorded in the 
Acts of the Apostles, they were commanded to refrain from 
partaking of things strangled and from blood. 

Col. Sykes says further:— 

“ But, whether more or less stringent, if we take the Hindoos as 
our servants, subject to their religious obligations, as just and hu¬ 
mane masters we are bound to respect these obligations. The Maho- 
medans, also, are equally subject to a food interdict, in the case of 
swine’s flesh ; and Brigadier John Jacob knows full well that if he 
were to order his Mahomedan soldiery (though they may venerate 
him) to bite a cartridge greased with pig’s fat, or his high-caste troopers 
to bite a cartridge greased with covr’s fat, that both the one and the 
other would promptly refuse obedience, and, in case he endeavoured 
to enforce it they would shoot him downf 


5 


These are the words of Colonel Sykes:— 

“ Let us suppose such an order to have been given at Meerut, or 
anywhere else, to native troops, and the consequences were inevitable. 
Missionary labours would have had nothing to do with producing the 
bloody results ; though Christianity itself had not existed they would 
have followed, arid a Buddhist, a Pagan, or any other authority would 
equally have been resisted to the death. Irrational and absurd as 
these caste obligations are, even felons in the gaols die to maintain 
them, and their active resistance to the recently introduced messing 
system in the gaols of Bengal and the North West Provinces has 
occasioned bloodshed. We have read in a recent Madras newspaper 
that some convicts who were embarked for transportation to the east¬ 
ward refused the ship’s food given to them, and, as they were dying 
of starvation, it became necessary to disembark them. How are we 
to deal with such tenacious obduracy l We cannot kill the fanatics, 
and we can only, therefore, lament the fanaticism and tolerate it. It 
is little known or thought of in the western world to what privations 
and sufferings the high-caste Sepoy is subjected in embarking for 
foreign service. From the moment he sets foot on board a ship he 
cannot cook ; he cannot receive the ship’s provisions, and his support 
is confined to parched grain and condiments which he takes with him. 
In the great expeditions to Java, China, and the Persian Gulf these 
privations and sufferings were borne cheerfully by thousands of Sepoys 
in our service, and would be borne again and again if their religious 
prejudices were respected. In the present feeling of resentment which 
has been so justly roused by the bloody acts of the Bengal Sepoys, 
and the generally expressed want of confidence in the future loyalty 
of the Brahmin and Rajpoot, it is of vital importance, as we cannot 
do without a native army, that there should be a clear understanding, 
not only with respect to the constitution of that army, but that in its 
management we should have constantly in mind what services we can 
and what we cannot exact from them.” 

How could you deal with such religious scruples ? 
We know that they were in existence in the time of 
Alexander the Great, who endeavoured to make the 
Hindoos break caste, but they would not. We know 
that they are much older than the days of Menu, and are, 
in fact, so old that nobody knows the origin of them. If 
you put four or five thousand years down.for their antiquity 
in India, it may not be far from the mark ; and, when we 
consider that these observances are regarded as of the most 
stringent character, and are of such antiquity, it is easy to see 
that they must have become so fixed in the minds of the people 
as not to be easily removed. Nor is there any reason why 
they should be, since it does not hurt anybody else if a man 
wishes to abstain from certain kinds of food. This matter 
is so important that I must put in another piece of evi¬ 
dence respecting it, very briefly. There has been published 
a letter from a Highlander of the 78th Regiment, in India, 
which had been out one night burning villages. The story 


6 


he tells is very horrible, and I wish to enter to night into 
no details of atrocities either on one side or the other. I 
merely tell yon that he went amongst the flames, and 
succeeded in rescuing a few poor people, who would other¬ 
wise have perished in them. He rescued a female, an old 
man, and a child or two. He then says :— 

“I went in at the other end of the village and came across a woman 
about twenty-two years old. She was sitting over a man tnat, to all 
appearance, would not see the day out. She was wetting his lips with 
some siste. The fire was coming fast, and the others all round were 
in flames. Not far from this I saw four women. I ran up to them, 
and asked them to come and help the sick man and woman out, hut 
they thought they had enough to do, and so they had, poor things; 
but, to save the woman and the dying man, I drew my bayonet, and 
told them if they did not I would kill them. They came, carried 
them out, and laid them under a tree. I left them. To look on, any 
one would have said that the flames were in the clouds. When I 
went to the other side of the village there were about one hundred 
and forty women and about sixty children, all crying and lamenting 
what had been done. The old woman of that small family I took out 
came, and I thought she would have kissed the ground I stood on. I 
offered them some biscuit I had for my day’s rations ; but they would 
not take it; it would break their caste, they said. The ‘ assemble’ 
sounded, and back I went, with as many blessings as they could pour 
out on anything nearest their heart.” 

These poor creatures, perishing outside the village, 
naked and faint, would not take the food offered to them 
because, they said, “ it would break their caste/ - ’ This will 
give you some idea how strong these feelings are, and how 
very frightful it is to endeavour in any way to coerce this 
feeling in that country. What I mention may be new to 
some of you perhaps, but these things are not unknown to 
any man connected with India. The East India Company 
always understood this, and this has been the one thing by 
which they have been enabled to maintain their power. 
India never could have been acquired at all if it had not 
been a settled point that the feelings of the people regarding 
these matters were to be scrupulously respected. And this 
you will find has been acknowledged by the English Par¬ 
liament, which has always laid it down that the Hindoo 
laws and customs were to be attended to with regard to in¬ 
heritance. An act of Geo. III. laid this down. • And, with 
regard to this special matter, the Indian articles of war pro¬ 
vide that there should be no interference with the religious 
scruples of the Sepoys. I have not been able to obtain a 
copy of them ; but I find this in page 294 of the Blue 
Book, and I will give it you as the first extract. It 
states : — 


7 


“The Articles of War clearly state that any person acting 
against the religious feelings of any man in a regiment of the army is 
liable to the severest punishment.”— Blue Book, page 294. 

Consequently, you see, it forms part of the contract 
with the Sepoy that his feelings in these matters shall be 
respected. I now, with these few observations, proceed to 
the narrative of what has occurred. But, before doing so, 
it is necessary you should bear in mind a few positions on 
the map which I shall mention. You will hear me mention 
Bum Bum and Barrackpore, which are close to Calcutta. 
I shall mention Berhampore, which is 100 miles up the 
Ganges from Calcutta. Six hundred miles up the Ganges 
is Lucknow, and 300 miles further up, or 900 miles from 
Calcutta, is Belhi, with Meerut only a few miles off. These 
are the places I shall mention, and I beg you to bear in 
mind how they are placed all in one line up the Ganges 
from Calcutta. It appears that, as early as January 22nd 
of this year, there was a wide suspicion about Bum Bum 
and Barrackpore, in the immediate neighbourhood of 
Calcutta, that the new cartridge made at the Calcutta ar¬ 
senal for the Enfield rifle was greased with the fat of pigs 
and cows, done for the purpose of defiling the Hindoo, 
depriving him of his caste, and compelling him to be 
a Christian. The following is one of the evidences of 
this:— 

“ Lieut. Wright to Ensign Smith , Adjutant, Rifle Depot,Dum Dum . 

“ Dum Dum, January 22, 1857. 

“ Sir, — I have the honor to report for the information of Major 
Bontein, commanding the depot, that there appears to be a very un¬ 
pleasant feeling existing among the native soldiers who are here for 
instruction, regarding the grease used in preparing the cartridges, some 
evil-disposed person having spread a report that it consists of a mix¬ 
ture of the fat of pigs and cows. 

“ 2. The belief in this report has been strengthened by the beha¬ 
viour of a classie attached to the magazine, who, I am told, asked a 
sepoy of the 2nd Grenadiers to supply him with water from his lota. 
The sepoy refused, observing, he was not aware of what caste the man 
was ; the classie immediately rejoined, 4 You will soon lose your 
caste , as ere long you will have to bite cartridges covered with the fat 
of pigs and cows,* or words to that effect. 

“ 3. Some of the depot-men in conversing with me on the subject 
last night, said that the report had spread throughout India, and 
when they go to their homes their friends will refuse to eat with 
them. 1 assured them ( believing it to be the case,) that the grease 
used is composed of mutton fat and wax, to which they replied, 4 It 
may be so, but our friends will not believe it: let us obtain the in¬ 
gredients from the bazaar, and make it up ourselves ; we shall then 
know what is used, and be able to assure our fellow-soldiers and 
others that there is nothing in it prohibited by our caste.’ 


8 


u In conclusion, I most respectfully beg to represent that by 
adopting the measure suggested by the men, the possibility of any mis¬ 
understanding regarding the religious prejudices of the natives in 
general will be prevented.—I have, &c., 

“ J. A. WRIGHT, Lieutenant and Brevet Captain, 
70th Regiment, Native Infantry.” 

[Blue Book , page 2.] 

The question arises, was there any foundation for this 
suspicion ? The Blue Book tells us there was, that the sus¬ 
picions were right, and that the cartridges had been greased 
in this manner in the arsenal at Calcutta. Now, that is so 
important to the whole case that I must give you the evi¬ 
dence. Ladies and gentlemen, I must beg you to be patient 
with me to-night, because this is necessarily a long story. 
(Applause.) But I dare not make a statement which I do 
not support. This is in the course of a court martial con¬ 
nected with the mutiny in the earlier stages. Lieut. Curry, 
of the Ordnance, on the trial of Salikram Sing, March 23rd, 
is recalled and examined :— 

“Bv the Prosecutor.—You stated in your evidence on Saturday, 
that before the 27th January, cartridges were issued to the Delhi ma¬ 
gazine from the Arsenal already greased ; what are the orders you have 
received on the composition of grease for the use of cartridges 2— 
A. The grease was to be made of six parts of tallow and one of bees¬ 
wax. 

« Q. Of what ought that tallow to consist of 2— A. No inquiry 
is made as to the fat of what animal is used. 

« Q. You do not yourself know what fat is used 2— A. No, I 
don’t know. 

“ q . Is it not the intention of Government that the tallow to be 
used in the preparation of grease, should be mutton or goat’s fat 2— 
A. It is now the intention of Government that all grease used in any 
preparations in the magazine is to be made of goats’ and sheep fat 
only.”— Blue Book , page 223. 

Consequently, you see, upon examination, the officers in 
the Ordnance Department at Calcutta were unable to deny 
the statement that these mixtures had been used. Evi¬ 
dence to the same fact is given as to the ammunition sent 
from London, and there are further passages to the same 
effect in the Blue Books. It will not be disputed that, in 
the first instance, there had been this fault committed of 
greasing the cartridges in this manner. The alarm existed 
on the 22nd of January, and caused such discontent amongst 
the Sepoys that already there had been some isolated cases 
of incendiarism. The Government made no admission as 
to the cartridges; on the contrary, we find this officer 
(Colonel Wright) telling them it was not true. He did 
not know any better at the time : but still the Government, 


9 


when they found it had been done, ought to have acknow¬ 
ledged the fault, and dismissed the officials who committed 
it. But not only was this not done; but Colonel Wheeler 
also told them the report was false; and even to the last no 
admission of error was ever made. 

Colonel "Wheeler, commanding the 34th Native Infantry, as¬ 
sured them the rumour so industriously circulated was false, and the na¬ 
tive officers and men said they were satisfied it was so. But one native 
officer respectfully asked if any orders had been received regarding the 
Enfield rifle cartridges.”— Despatch of General Hearsey, Blue Book , 
page 9. 

What they did was to issue an order, which I will read 
to you :— 

u The Secretary to the Government of India to the Adjutant-General of 

the Army. 

(Telegraphic.) _ “ Calcutta, January 27, 1857. 

u In order to remove the objection the Sepoys may raise to the 
grease used for the cartridges of the rifle-muskets, all cartridges are to 
be issued free from grease, and the Sepoys are to be allowed to apply, 
with their own hands, whatever mixture suited for the purpose they 
may prefer. 

“ You are requested to communicate to the parties concerned, and 
to inform the officer in charge of the Depot of Instruction at Meerut, 
where the cartridges are prepared. 

[Blue Book, page 5.] “ R. J. H. BIRCH, Colonel.” 

This was on January 27th; but, on January 28th, 
another order was issued which to a great extent abolished 
this one, and confined the operation of it to rifle practice. 
It is stated at the end :— 

“ This arrangement, however, is to be considered applicable only 
to the depots of rifle practice, the question of the state in which cart¬ 
ridges are to be issued under other circumstances, and especially for 
service in the field, being under the consideration of Government.”— 
Blue Book , page 5. 

Now, you must see that what was applicable to one 
branch of the service was applicable to another, and the 
question was, ought such a danger to have been left to 
exist in any shape whatever ? On the following day, the 
29th, a telegraphic communication was received by the 
Adjutant-General of the army at Meerut from the Secretary 
to the Government at Calcutta, by which the order was 
altogether abolished so far as Meerut was concerned. The 
Secretary to the Government had received a message from 
the Adjutant-General in which lie said his men had had 
no suspicions hitherto, but that the issuing of a new 
regulation might make them so ; and he asked for fresh 
orders, in reply to which he was ordered that the “ existing 
“practice in greasing cartridges for rifles may be con- 

C 


10 


“tinned.” * So that the point of the Sepoys satisfying 
themselves as to the mixture was put on one side. 
You must recollect that it was impossible to tell by 
the taste at any time what the substance was with which 
the cartridge was greased. Had it been so it would 
have been a very clear matter to deal with. But it was 
a matter of belief, a suspicion in their minds, that 
constituted the danger. They had been told by the Hin¬ 
doos working in the arsenal at Calcutta, that the cartridges 
had been so greased, and the thing for the Government to 
do was to deal with their minds so as to remove the 
suspicion, and that is the way in which you must look at 
it. And here I must bring forward a piece of testimony 
of the greatest importance, a letter to the Times of Major- 
General Tucker, who was formerly in office in India. He 
actually says :— 

“ If the recommendation addressed by me, under the authority 
of the then Commander-in-Chief to the Government of India in 1853, 
had not been most culpably disregarded, the existing disaffection 
among the native troops would never have arisen—not, at least, as 
connected with the greasing of cartridges ; for in that year, when some 
rifle ammunition was sent out to India from this country, and certain 
experiments in connexion with it were ordered, occasion w T as taken in 
my office urgently to recommend to the Government, that “ in the 
greasing composition nothing should be used which could possibly offend 
the caste or religious prejudices of the natives !” That recommendation 
was addressed under my signature as Adjutant-General to the Military 
Secretary of the Government ; it must obviously have been entirely 
disregarded.” 


*“ The Adjutant-General of the Army, Meerut, to the Secretary to the 
Government of India. 

“ (Telegraphic.) 

“Received your message of yesterday. Greased rifle ammunition has 
been used some years by native troops, to whom Minie rifles were issued 
on the Peshawur frontier ; also by Rifle Companies (see paragraph 21, 
section 2, Military Regulations). Grease composed of mutton fat and 
wax. Will not your present instructions make the Sepoys suspicious about 
what hitherto they have not hesitated to handle ! Fresh orders are solicited in 
reply.” 


“ The Secretary to the Government of India to the Adjutant-General of the 
Army, Meerut. 

“ (Telegraphic.) “ Calcutta, January 29, 1857. 

“ In reply to your message of the 28th, the existing practice in greasing 
cartridges for rifles may be continued, if the materials are mutton fat and wax. 
Further orders will be given, and explanations will follow by post .”—Blue 
Book, page 13. 

.Note. —These clearly indicate that on January 30th the suspicion 
as to the cartridges had not reached Meerut. 





11 


Here was warning given in 1853 not to do this. He 
adds:— 

“ I do not presume to say with whom specifically the blame of 
this most culpable neglect may rest,—only investigation can settle that 
point ; but I conceive, that either the Military Secretary or the. officer 
presiding in chief over the Ordnance Department in Calcutta is, one 
or both, the party implicated. As far as I can learn with accuracy at 
this distance, the ferment existing arose, first, from the glaring error of 
greasing cartridges in the Calcutta arsenal , after the English receipt , 
with tallow ; and, secondly, in issuing to the native troops, similarly 
greased cartridges, sent out direct from England, hut which ought, of 
course, only to have been issued to the Europeon troops . It appears truly 
wonderful that it should not have occurred to any of the authorities in 
Calcutta charged with the issuing of these cartridges, that tallow made 
of the fat of all kinds of animals, a filthy composition at the best, 
would seriously outrage the feelings and prejudices of all the native 
troops, whether Moslems or Hindoos. My humble opinion is, that the 
Government of India should have insisted on learning with whom 
rested the blame of the grave errors committed. And the facts of the 
case having been ascertained, a frank explanation should have been 
issued for the information of the native troops. By such a course the 
European officers would have been armed with a truthful and candid 
explanation ; whereas now, in fact, the officers themselves do not in 
general know exactly how or in what manner the greasing process 
originated.” 

There could not be a more criminal thing than to 
expose both England and Hindostan to the danger likely 
to arise from such a matter. But no admission was made 
to the Hindoos that this had been done at all; on the 
contrary, it was denied, though of course the Hindoos 
could ascertain very easily, through their comrades in the 
arsenal, that the denial was a lie, and that this had been 
done; consequently, we find, in this stage, that suspicion was 
not removed, but strengthened, and that becomes more mani¬ 
fest as we go on, for though this order, for allowing the Se¬ 
poys to take their own grease, appears to have been set 
aside at Meerut, and other stations which the alarm had not 
yet reached, it was attempted to carry it out at Barrackpore, 
in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, but did not allay the sus¬ 
picion, which soon iound fresh food. On February 3rd the 
new cartridges were shown to the men, and they objected to 
the paper # 

“ Captain Boswell to the Major of Brigade. 

“ Barrackpore, February 4, 1857. 

“ Sir.— 1 have the honor to report that in obedience to instruc¬ 
tions contained in a note of yesterday’s date, from the Brigadier com¬ 
manding the station to the address of officers commanding regiments at 
the station, I yesterday afternoon at a parade of the wing under my 
command, had^ fully explained to the men of the wing that the car- 


12 


tridges for the new rifles were to he made made up exactly like the 
five produced on parade, and of the same paper as that sent with the 
cartridges, and that the Sepoys would dip the cartridges themselves in 
wax and oil before using them. 

44 I took the cartridges into the ranks, and showed them to the 
men (having one broken open) ; and upon my asking several of the 
men, here and there in the ranks, if they could see anything objec¬ 
tionable in them, and their reply, made in the most civil but soldier¬ 
like manner, was, that the paper was not the same as that used for the 
old cartridges, and that they thought there was something in it. 

44 I deem it my duty to report this circumstance for the informa¬ 
tion of the Brigadier Commanding, as I imagine there will be no diffi¬ 
culty in substituting the old cartridge-paper for that made use of in 
the construction of the new cartridges.—I have, &c. 

“ N. C. BOSWELL, Captain, Commanding Left 
Wing 2nd Grenadiers.” 

[j Blue Book, page 14.] 

An inquiry was made on the 6th, the result of which 
was communicated on the 8th to the Government at Cal¬ 
cutta by Major-General Hearsey:— 

44 Major-General Hearsey to the Deputy Adjutant-General of the Army, 

44 Barrackpore, February 7, 1857. 

44 Sir. —With reference to my official letter to your address, 
dated the 24th ultimo, I have now the honor to forward, for submis¬ 
sion to the Government, the proceedings of a special Court of Inquiry 
which has been assembled at Barrackpore, for the purpose of ascertain¬ 
ing from the evidence of a selected portion of the 2nd Native Grena¬ 
dier Regiment the cause of their continued objection to the paper of 
which the new rifle cartridges are composed. 

44 2. A perusal of the several statements and opinions recorded 
in these proceedings clearly establishes, in my judgment, that a most 
unreasonable and unfounded suspicion has unfortunately taken posses¬ 
sion of the minds of all the native officers and Sepoys at this station, that 
grease or fat is used in the composition of this cartridge paper ; and 
this foolish idea is now so rooted in them, that it would, I am of 
opinion, be both idle and unwise even to attempt its removal. 

44 8. I vrould accordingly beg leave to recommend for* the consi¬ 
deration of Government, the expediency (if practicable) of ordering 
this rifle ammunition to be made up of the same description of paper 
which has been hitherto employed in the magazines for the prepara¬ 
tion of the common musket cartridge, by which means this groundless 
suspicion and objection could be at once disposed of. 

44 1 have, &c. 

44 J. B. HEARSEY, Major-General, Com¬ 
manding Presidency Division.” 

j JBlue Book, page 13.] 

The paper was of a yellow colour, glazed, and had the 
appearance of being greased, and Major-General Hearsey, 
as a sensible officer, who did not wish to offend the soldier 
on a matter of no consequence, recommended a change of 
paper, with a view to remove suspicion. I cannot read all 
the evidence that was taken, but give some passages :— 


13 


“ Byjouath Pandie, Sepoy, 5th Company, 2nd Grenadier Regi¬ 
ment, appears in Court, and voluntarily states as follows :— 

“ Q. Were you on parade on the evening of the 4th instant, when 
the new cartridges weie shown to the men of the regiment?— A. I was. 

“ Q. Did you make any objection to the materials of which those 
cartridges were composed?— A. i felt some suspicion in regard to the 
paper , if it might not affect my caste. 

“ Q. What reason have you to suppose that there is anything in 
the paper which would injure your caste?— A. Because it is a new 
description of paper of which the cartridges are made up, and which I 
have not seen before. 

Q. Have you ever seen, or heard from any one, that the paper 
is composed of anything which is objectionable to your caste ?— A. I 
heard a report that there was some fat in the paper; it was a bazaar 
report. 

“ Q. Are these the cartridges and paper which you examined on 
parade (the paper and cartridges shown to the witness) ?— A, Yes.” 

“Chaud Khan, Sepoy, 7th Company, 2nd Grenadier Regiment, 
voluntarily states as follows :— 

“ Q. Do you object to the paper of which the new cartridges were 
made, now lying before the Court; and if so, on what grounds?— A. 
I have no objection to the bullet powder ; it is only the paper which 
I have doubts about, which appears to be tough, and on burning it it 
smells as if there was grease in it. 

“ Q. Were you present when a piece of the paper was burnt, 
and when ?— A. On the evening of the 4th instant a piece of the cart¬ 
ridge paper was dipped in water and afterwards burnt. When burn¬ 
ing it made a pliizzing noise, and smelt as if there was grease in it. 

“ Q. Who were present when this burning of the paper took 
pl ace \ — a. Two or three were present. I do not recollect w'hat their 
names are. [A piece of the cartridge paper is burnt in Court by the 
witness.] 

“ Q. Are you still of opinion that there is any smell of grease 
in it?— A. No ; there is not. 

“ Q. Have you now any objection to use these cartridges with 
paper of that description?— A. I object to this paper being used, as 
every one is dissatisfied with it on account of it being glazed, shining 
like wax-cloth.” 

“ Jemadar Buddor Sing, 6th Company, 2nd Grenadier Regiment, 
is called into Court:— 

« Q. Have you any objection to the new cartridge which lies 
before the Court?— A. Nothing except the paper, which I have some 
suspicion about , as 1 have never seen anything of the kind before ; and 
the general report is that there is grease in it .” 

“Jemadar Gunness Sing, No. 10 Company, 2nd Grenadier Re¬ 
giment, being called into Court :— 

“ Q. Have you any objection to the cartridge which lies on the 
table «— a. I have no objection to the cartridge myself, but there is a 
report amongst the men that there is grease in it. 

“ Q. How did this report get abroad ?— A. I do not know'. 

“ Q. What, in your opinion, would be the best plan to undeceive 
the minds of the men on this point ?— A. I know no other way than 
to substitute other paper in its place” 

“Jemadar Golaul Khan, 2nd Company, 2nd Grenadier Regi¬ 
ment, is called into Court:— 


Q. Have you any objection to the use of the cartridges now 
lying before you 2— A . I have objection to the paper, as there is a 
report got about that there is grease in it. 

“ Q. Can you prove yourself that there is grease in it, or have 
you taken any measures to do so?— A. There is grease in it, I feet 
assured, as it differs from the paper which has heretofore been always 
used for cartridges .” 

“ Jemadar Ram Sing, 9th Company, 2nd Grenadier Regiment:— 

“ Q. Have you any objection to the use of the cartridges now 
lying before you 2— A. A report got about, which, I think, came from 
the Magazine Classics in Calcutta, that there was some grease in the 
paper ; on this account I have some suspicions about it. 

“ Q,. How can this suspicion be removed from your mind 2— A. 
I cannot remove it.” 

“Jemadar Wuzeer Khan, 7th Company, 2nd Grenadier Regi¬ 
ment, called into Court:— 

“ Q. Have you any objection to the use of the cartridges lying 
upon the table 2— A. I have no objection to it—it appears to be new. 

“ Q Would you have any objection to use it in the way the old 
cartridges are used 2— A . I should have ■some objection, in consequence 
of the suspicion which exists generally in the cantonment.” 

“ Havildar Major Ajoodiah Sing, 8th Company, 2nd Grenadier 
Regiment, called into Court :— 

“ Q. Have you any objection to the use of the cartridges lying 
on the table?— A. I have suspicions about the paper, on account of 
the bazaar report that there is grease in it.' 

“ Have you taken any measures to prove whether this report is 
true 2— A. I have tried it in oil, and also in water, and where it was 
w’et with the oil it would not dissolve. After this trial I thought 
there was no grease in it. 

“ Q. By the experiment, in your opinion, there was no grease in 
the paper ; would you object to bite off the end of the cartridge 2— A. I 
could not do it, as the other men would object to it .” 

“ Bheekun Khan, Havildar, 10th Company, 2nd Grenadier 
Regiment, called into Court :— 

“ Q. Have you any objection to the use of the cartridges lying 
on the table 2— A. 1 suspect that there is cow’s and pig’s grease in 
them, from a bazaar report. 

“ Q. If you had any doubt, why did you not ascertain the point 
from your officer 2— A. I could not report it to the officer, it being 
merely a bazaar report. 

“ Q. When the paper and cartridge was shown you upon parade, 
had you any reason to suppose that there was any grease mixed with 
the paper 2— A. I have heard that it smells of grease when it is burnt.” 
— Blue Book, pages 15 to 18. 

Well, the project of changing the paper was declared 
at Calcutta to be inconvenient, because the paper was thin¬ 
ner, and answered better ; but, in the middle of the discus¬ 
sion, as to what should be done, Major-General Hearsey 
writes to them in a despatch of February 11th, that at Bar- 
rackpore “ we are dwelling upon a mine ready for explosion/" 
and complaining that he had received no answer to his re¬ 
commendation of the 8th that the paper should be changed. 


15 


At last, a way is found out to meet the case completely, 
and certainly it is wonderful that it was not found out be¬ 
fore. Lieutenant-Colonel Hogge, Director of the Military 
School of Instruction, writes from Meerut on the 21st Feb. 
making the very opportune suggestion that the biting of 
the cartridge should be altogether abolished. In the course 
of his despatch he says :— 

44 As Colonel Abbott states as an objection to the use of mutton 
fat, that it might be difficult to persuade the native soldiers that no 
other animal fat was used, I can only suggest that either the cart¬ 
ridges should be issued from magazines ungreased, and that the 
Quartermaster or officers commanding companies in native regiments 
should purchase the material themselves, through a joint agency of a 
Brahmin or a Mussulman, which would convince the other men that 
the fat used was not from either cow or pig, and further, that instead 
of the end of the cartridge being bitten off as laid down in drill instruc¬ 
tions , the men should be told to twist it off with the right handy the 
cartridge being shifted to the left hand for this purpose, whilst the 
rifle is supported against the body by the left wrist: this latter plan 
would remove , all objections from that class of Hindoos who never 
touch animal food.” 

On March 5th, the biting of the cartridge is abolished. 
After I have told you this, you will wonder at suspicion 
still existing, but after I have told you a few more things 
you will not even wonder that it ended in mutiny. A 
thing to be noted is that the biting of the cartridge was a 
practice which had for many years been entirely useles. It 
was a practice necessary when the old flint and steel firelock 
was in use ; but already for many years past, ever since the 
substitution of the percussion musket for the old firelock, 
cartridge biting had been a superfluous thing altogether. 
Something very horrible is to come out now, but I will not 
state anything without giving you chapter and verse for it. 
You will see how the Indian Government acted. Major 
Bontein, at Dum Dum, on March 2nd, writes to the Go¬ 
vernment :— 

44 Permit me to quote the regulation as it now stands :— 

“ 4 The firelock being at the word 4 prepare to load ’ placed on 
the ground six inches in front of the body, and held at the full extent 
of the left arm, the recruit receives the order 4 load upon which the 
regulation says, first bring the cartridge to the mouth, holding it 4 be¬ 
tween the forefinger and thumb, with the ball in the hand, and bite 
off the top elbow close to the body/ 

44 The above regulation is at present in force, but I would 
submit that the practice of biting the cartridge is a mere remnant of 
the platoon exercise introduced in the days of the flint and steel fire¬ 
lock, when the musket being brought to the right side with the left 
hand for the purpose of priming it was almost impossible to use the 
cartridge without the aid of the teeth.” 


16 


Ee further says :— 

44 I would suggest that, at the third motion of the order 4 pre¬ 
pare to load,’ the left hand, instead of holding the musket at 
the full extent of the arm, should, after placing it on the ground 
in front of the body, slip up and seize the rifle at the brass band, 
or tip to the stock; it will then be in a position to meet the 
right hand, which conveys the cartridge from the pouch, to tear 
off the cartridge-paper in place of using the teeth, and (at the fourth 
motion of the word 4 load,’ when the right hand seizes the head of the 
ramrod) to return to the centre part of the stock, ready to throw up 
the firelock into the 4 capping position’ at the sixth command of the 
platoon exercise. The above suggestion I offer with every deference 
to the judgment of superior experience. I do not, in the least, intend 
to consult the caprice of the native soldier; my motive is an increase 
of efficiency. 

Mark the concluding passage, that the substitution of 
tearing for biting the cartridge would be an increase of effi¬ 
ciency. Major Bontein dared not offer his suggestion to 
Lord Canning on the ground of sparing the religious 
feelings of the Sepoys. Of course the Government at Cal¬ 
cutta could not resist, when Lieut.-Colonel Hogge and 
Major Bontein gave them such sound advice; and they 
issued an order, to which, and the terms of it, I now turn. 
After reciting the new mcde recommended, the order 
states:— 

44 This mode the Govern or-General in Council is disposed to 
think will be an improvement, and should his Excellency concur, his 
Lordship in Council requests that early instructions may be given to the 
several depots of instructions, not making any allusion whatever to the 
biting of the cartridge, but drawn up in such a way that they may appear 
to be independent of anything laid down in previous regulations. 

44 The Governor-General in Council considers that it would be 
best to make the alteration before any objection is raised, and there¬ 
fore requests his Excellency’s early attention to the subject. 

44 Instructions have been issued confidentially to the depot of 
instruction at Dum Dum, to defer the use of ammunition pending the 
reference to his Excellency.—I am, &c. 

4 ‘ li. J. H. BIRCH, Colonel.” 

\_Blue Book, page 35.] 

Further on, Major-General Hearsey, writing on the 
same day, the 5th March, to the Government, on the same 
point, says :— 

44 The new mode of loading may be considered as a part of the 
intended drill for a new weapon about to be introduced into the ser¬ 
vice, and not as a concession extorted by discontented men.” 

He adds :— 

44 We shall thus be keeping our word with the Sepoys, and, at the 
same time, introducing a better plan of loading with reference to their 
religious scruples.” 


17 


The fact is, that this order of the 5th of March, to 
which they were anxious not to give the appearance of 
concession, whereas they ought to have been anxious to 
remove danger by satisfying their minds,—this order 
of the 5 th of March was concealed from the Sepoys. The 
consequences of this will be seen further on. The 
order was not published, and, as you will see further 
on, it was not acted upon. I have now gone, in point 
of date, beyond other events of very great consequence. 
On the 26th February (we have now got to March 5th) 
occurred the mutiny of the 19th Regiment at Berham- 
pore, and it is upon the conduct of Government at this 
serious epoch that everything depended. The men at 
Berhampore were only 100 miles further up the Ganges, 
and the alarm which commenced at Barrackpore had 
spread there. I have explained to you that there had 
been an inquiry held which clearly showed that the 
Sepoys objected to cartridges of a certain paper and colour. 
Yet, you will see, a mutiny occurred at Berhampore, be¬ 
cause of the conduct of the Government in not setting the 
minds of the Sepoys at rest in this matter. Here I must 
read you a document of some length, viz, the petition of the 
19th Regiment for mercy, and I must tell you that the 
Governor-General admitted that they had stated the facts 
correctly. He says :— 

“ Upon the whole, the petition contains a fair account of what 
took place on the occasion of the outbreak, the main points being 
borne out by the evidence at the Court of Inquiry.”— Minute of the 
Governor-General in Council of March 27th, page 50, Blue Book. 

With this endorsement of Lord Canning, I will 
read the petition of the Sepoys for mercy after what had 
occurred, to which I have referred :— 

“Petition to the Major-General Commanding the Division , inclosed 
by Colonel Mitchell. 

(Translation.) “ March 2nd. 

“ Hitherto this regiment has been always obedient in every way, 
and marched and halted wherever ordered, without question of any 
sort. For the last two months or more it has been rumoured that 
new cartridges have been made in the magazine at Calcutta, on the 
paper of which bullock’s or pig’s fat was spread, and that it was the 
intention of Government to coerce the men to bite them. On this 
account we were very much afraid on the score of our religion. The 
Colonel on hearing this assembled the native officers, and told them 
that on the arrival of the new muskets he would make such arrange¬ 
ments as would satisfy them ; that is to say, that such grease as was 
n-cessary should be prepared before the Sepoys by the Pay Havildars 
of companies ; with this we were perfectly satisfied. After some time 
some fresh stores arrived from Calcutta, and on the 28th of this month 

I) 


18 


we received orders on the following day to fire fifteen rounds of blank 
cartridge per man ; at 4 o’clock in the afternoon the cartridges were 
received at the bells of arms and inspected by us ; we perceived them 
to be of two kinds, and one sort appeared to be different from that 
formerly served out. Hence we doubted whether these might not be 
the cartridges which had arrived from Calcutta, as we had made none 
ourselves, and were convinced that they were greased. On this account, 
and through religious scruples, we refused to take the caps.” 

Now, bear in mind, if the men had a design and wanted 
to fight they would not have refused to take the caps. Then 
it goes on :— 

“ At half past 7 o’clock, the Colonel, accompanied by the Adju¬ 
tant, come upon parade, and very angrily gave orders to us, saying ‘ If 
you will not take the cartridges I will take you to Burmah, where 
through hardship you will all die. These cartridges are those left be¬ 
hind by the 7th Native Infantry, and I will serve them out to-morrow 
morning by the hands of the officers commanding companies.’ He 
gave this order so angrily that we were convinced that the cartridges 
were greased, otherwise he would not have spoken so. I he same 
night, about a quarter to 11, shouts of various kinds were heard, some 
said there’s a fire, others that they were surrounded by Europeans, 
some said that the guns had arrived, others that the cavalry had ap¬ 
peared. In the midst of this row the alarm sounded on a dram, then 
from fear of our lives the greater number seized their arms from the 
khotes.” 

I should mention to you here that Colonel Mitchell 
had previously sent an order for horses and artillery to he 
there in the morning with a view of coercing the men, who 
were to be made to bite the cartridge, with the artillery and 
cavalry before them to cut them up if they did not obey. 
The men heard of this, and flew to arms. The narrative pro¬ 
ceeds :— 

“Between 12 and 1 o’clock the 11th Irregular Cavalry, and the 
guns with torches, arrived on the parade with the commanding officer, 
which still more confirmed our suspicions of the cartridges being 
greased, inasmuch as the commanding officer appeared to be about to 
carry his threat into execution by force. We had been hearing of this 
sort of thing for the last two months or more , and here appeared to 
he the realization of it. On this the Colonel called all the Native 
officers, and said to them very angrily, J This is a very bad business ; 
we don’t fear to die and will die here.’ Then the Native officers, in 
the most respectful manner, represented to him, the Sepoys are fools, 
whereas you have sense and judgment; do not at this time speak so 
angrily, for this is a matter affecting their religion, and that is no 
slight thing. Please to send the artillery and cavalry away. The 
Colonel agreed to this and sent each officer with his Native officer to 
his company to soothe and explain to the men. The Sepoys repre¬ 
sented that all men value their religion , and we believe we shall lose 
caste by biting the cartridges; and on seeing the artillery and cavalry 
we became more frightened ; the officers then said to the men, we will 
ask the Colonel to send away the cavalry and guns, which was accor- 


19 


dingily done. At the same time, however, the Colonel said I will have 
a general parade in the morning, then I will have the Governor-Gene¬ 
ral’s orders read out. On this the Native officers again represented to him 
that only a short portion of the night remained, and if he had the cavalry 
and guns there so soon again, the men would only believe that they 
were intended to act against them. It would be better if he only 
paraded the regiment alone; at first he would not agree to this, but 
on its again being represented to him by the Adjutant he agreed to it. 
The men then lodged their arms and went to their lines. They all 
appeared on parade on the following morning. On the 28th, again 
according to orders, there was another parade, at which the cartridges, 
which the men had refused to fire, were inspected, when assuredly 
two kinds of cartridges were found, one kind of white thin paper, and 
the other darker and thicker. On burning and submerging the two 
the difference still was evident, which did not remove the distrust. 
The Colonel put up specimens of each kind of paper and has sent them 
to you. From that time onwards all duties have been properly car¬ 
ried on, and so shall be ; as long as we live we will faithfully obey all 
orders; wherever in the field of battle we are ordered to go, there shall 
we be found ; therefore, with every respect, we now petition, that 
since this is a religious question from which arose our dread, and as 
religion is by the order of God the first thing, we petition, that as we 
have done formerly, we may be also allowed to make up our own 
cartridges, and we will obey whatever orders may be given to us, and 
we will ever pray for you. 

“ The petition of the Native Commissioned and Non-commis¬ 
sioned Officers and Sepoys of the 19th Native Infantry.”— Blue Book, 
page 264. 

There are .one or two points warranting the suspicion of 
these men. The most important is that they had never at 
any time before had any cartridges except those made with 
their own hands. For the first time, in the midst of all 
these rumours about greased cartridges, they have cartridges 
handed to them of a different paper and colour, consequently 
they were seized with panic. Unfortunately, Colonel Mit¬ 
chell threatens them in the most cruel manner, and the 
men, in terror of their religion and their lives, take up arms 
to defend themselves. But I must say that Colonel Mitchell 
did all in his power to undo the harm he had done. The 
same night he does appear to have tranquillized the men, 
sent away the guns and cavalry, the men laying down their 
arms, and abandoned—since he saw that they conscientiously 
objected to it—his purpose of insisting on their using the 
cartridges. In consequence order was restored, and had the 
matte/been left to the Colonel the danger might have 
blown over. But, unfortunately, there was a Governor- 
General and Council at Calcutta; and, after hearing the 
whole case, the Governor-General decided that:—■ 

“ Mutiny so open and defiant cannot be excused by any sensi¬ 
tiveness of religion or caste, by fear of coercion, or by seductions and 


20 


deceptions of others. Accordingly, it has been resolved by the 
Governor-General in Council that the 19th Regiment shall be dis¬ 
banded im mediately.” — Minute of March 27, Blue Booh, page 51. 

Now, you see two facts before you, staring 'you in the 
face. At this critical period—the month of March—they 
had laid before them, at Calcutta) a recommendation of the 
utmost importance, that biting the cartridges should be 
dispensed with, and it could only have been a few days 
before they had this recommendation of Colonel Hogge that 
they heard of the outbreak at Berhampore, which could not 
have occurred if this practice had been previously abolished. 
Government could not refuse to abolish the biting of the 
cartridges; but you must see they could not make a pro¬ 
clamation, and let all the Sepoys know that they should not 
bite the cartridge an} longer, and let this be read at the head 
of every regiment,—that, I say, they could not do, and 
at the same time disband the 19 th Regiment. What they did 
do was to drop the biting secretly, and so as not to appear a 
concession, and then to disband—which is a most fearful 
punishment, the disbanded Sepoy being reduced to beggary 
and starvation—the 19 th Regiment. The news of that spread 
all through India. The order disbanding them was read at the 
head of every regiment. The Sepoys heard nothing at all 
about the not-biting, but all of the biting of the cartridge, 
and consequently the panic spread that the Government was 
determined to make them, at all costs, bite the cartridges, 
or disband them, as it had done the 19th, if they re¬ 
fused to do it. (Applause.) The consequences of this 
soon began to appear ; in fact the consequences antici¬ 
pated the event. The 19th Regiment was ordered to be 
removed to Barrackpore, to be disbanded in the face of all 
the regiments that could be gathered from far and near. 
The object of Lord Canning was to strike terror by a terrible 
example. But, two days before the 19th got there, a mutiny 
of the 34th Regiment took place at Barrackpore, and that 
occurred because they knew the 19th was going to be dis¬ 
banded. The 34th Regiment appears to have been that in 
which the whole thing began, under Lieutenant-Colonel 
Wheeler, who, in the most injudicious manner, was 
endeavouring to convert the men to Christianity. I do 
not. say a commanding officer may not possibly preach 
Christianity to the Sepoys without doing harm, but, 
certainly, for a man -in such a position, to do so with¬ 
out doing harm, must require extraordinary discretion 
nnd prudence. You may imagine the effect of a Pro- 


21 


testant Colonel constantly preaching up his own doctrines, 
and denouncing the Roman Catholic religion, upon a Roman 
Catholic regiment, and there can be no doubt that the preach¬ 
ing of Colonel Wheeler, which had gone on for months be¬ 
fore the alarm about greased cartridges, had a great deal to do 
with preparing the minds of the Sepoys for mutiny. They 
did not understand it probably ; but, when the greased cart¬ 
ridges came, they imagined that this was the thing meant, 
and that it was by this means that they were to be converted 
and turned into Christians The 34th Regiment was at 
Barrackpore two days before the disbandment of the 19 th, 
when Mungul Pandy, a man hitherto of good character, 
appeared in a state of religious frenzy before the lines intoxi¬ 
cated with a drug, or bnang, which they take when going to 
do anything desperate, shooting at every one near till he 
was arrested. He was tried and hung, and, of course, there 
was nothing for it but to hang him ; but, at the same time, 
there could be no doubt that that man was in no plot, 
but that he was simply excited by his fanaticism, and pro¬ 
bably but for the fear of the greased cartridges, he would 
never have been a murderer. On the occasion of his doing this, 
there was a general indisposition on the part of the men to 
arrest him, and the consequence was that another man was 
tried and hung for not arresting him, and an inquiry was 
ordered into the state of the regiment. The result was, an 
order condemning Colonel Wheeler for his conduct, and de¬ 
termining to disband that regiment too, or rather those 
companies of it which were at Barrackpore, for there were 
companies absent. This brings me forward to the end of 
April, when the or4er was given for the disbandment of the 
34th. And now for one or two important matters to be 
mentioned in reference to this regiment. It has been said 
that the mutiny was the result of a Mahommedan conspi¬ 
racy. I would reply that the Blue Book sets aside this alto¬ 
gether, and that if it were the case it would not alter the fact 
that the minds of the men were worked upon by meanfe of 
these cartridges. The question for us to consider is what was 
the acting motive which drove the men to do what they did, 
and how far was the Government responsible for creating it? 
The Mahommedans may have made use of this feeling, but 
that does not affect the question. But it is exceedingly singular 
that the evidence of the Blue Books rather goes in a contrary 
direction, for all the officers of the 34th Regiment examined 
testify that they would trust the Sikhs and Mahommedans 
of the regiment, but they would not trust the Hindoos, and 


the result of their evidence is thus summed up at the 
conclusion of the inquiry :— 

“ April 17th. 

« The Court, upon the additional evidence before them, adhere 
to their former opinion, viz.:— 

“ ‘ That the Sikhs and Mussulmans of the 34th Regiment Native 
Infantry are trustworthy soldiers of the Sta^e, but that the Hindoos 
generally of that corps are not trustworthy/ ” 

“ C. GRANT, Brigadier, President. 

« E. AMSINCK, Brevet Colonel, Member. 

“ C. S. REID, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, Member. 

“ H. W. MAT I HEWS, Major, Member. 

« W. A. COOKE, Major, Member. 

“ GEO. N. GREENE,, Captain,, 

Conducting the Proceedings. 

“J. B. HEARSEY, Major-General, 

[Blue Booh, page 148.] Commanding Presidency Division.” 

On May the 4th, Lord Canning _issued a general 
order disbanding the 34th Regiment, blow I told you be¬ 
fore that the order abolishing the biting of the cartridge 
had not been read to the regiments, but that the general 
order disbandiog the 19th Regiment had been read at the 
head of every regiment. In the same way, Lord Canning 
directed that the order of May 4th disbanding the 34th 
should be read at the head of every regiment. . But I can¬ 
not say that did any harm, because by the time it could 
have been read there were no regiments to read it to. On 
May 4th, the very date on which the 34th was ordered to 
be disbanded, and the order of disbandment ordered to be 
read to every regiment of the service, at that very date, a 
letter was written from Lucknow with the news of a mutiny 
there. All this time, ever since the disbandment of the 
19th Regiment at the end of March, the disbanded Sepoys 
had been on the road, and by this time the panic as 
to the cartridges, which in January had been confined to 
the neighbourhood of Calcutta, had spread from one end 
to the other of the Bengal Presidency. At Lucknow 
on May 4th, the following most extraordinary despatch was 
written : — 

« The Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Oude to the Secretary 
to the Government of India. 

“Snt,—I am directed to report, for the information of the 
Governor-General in Council, that on the 2nd instant the 7th Oude 
Regiment, stationed seven miles from the Lucknow Cantonments, 
refused to bite the cartridge when ordered by its own officers, and 
again by the Brigadier. It was ordered to parade on the 4th. On the 
3rd several symptoms of disaffection appeared. At 4 p.m. the Brigadier 
reported it in a very mutinous state. Instantly a field battery, a wing 
of Her Majesty’s 32nd, one of the 48th and 7lst Native Infantry and 


23 


of the 7th Cavalry, the 2nd Oude Cavalry and 4th Oude Infantry, 
marched against it. The*regiment was found perfectly quiet ; formed 
line from column at the order, and expressed contrition. But when 
the men saw guns drawn up against them, half their body broke and 
fled, throwing down their arms. The Cavalry pursued and brought up 
some of them. The arms were collected and brought away, and the 
Regulars were withdrawn. The disarmed 7th were directe . to return 
to their lines, and recall the runaways. They were informed by Sir 
Henry Lawrence, that Government would be asked to disband the 
corps ; but that those found guiltless might be re-enlisted.” 

“ I have, &c., 

“GEORGE COUPER.” 

[Blue Book , page 209.] 

Was there not something horrible in this? Yon know 
that on the 5th March biting was ordered to be dispensed 
with, and you see two months after that, the regiment 
mutined on that very point. Can anything go beyond Ghat ? 
The men of Oude two months after the date of the order of 
March 5th are ordered to bite the cartridge, and upon that 
mutiny ensues. And now I must read the observations 
upon this point in the Council Chamber at Calcutta. Lord 
Canning says, in his Minute of May 10tb.:— 

“ This despatch from the Chief Commissioner in Oude reports 
the outbreak of a mutinous spirit in the 7th Regiment of Oude Ir¬ 
regular Infantry and theft refusal to use the cartridge furnished to 
them/’ 

Now that is not the fact, they refused to bite it; but, 
Lord Cannmg, knowing that an error had been committed, 
seeks to mislead by using this word. He adds :— 

“ I see no reason in the tardy contrition of the regiment for 
hesitating to confirm the punishment of all who are guilty. I would, 
therefore, support the Chief Commissioner at once. I think it better, 
however, that the disbandment, to whatever length it may be carried, 
should be real/’ 

In fact, all that Lord Canning finds fault with is, that 
the Chief Commissioner at Lucknow does not go far enough: 
all that he says is, that he wishes the Commissioner to be 
more severe ; but he observes at the end :— 

“ It appears that the revised instructions for the platoon exer¬ 
cise, by which the biting of the cartridge is dispensed with, had not 
come into operation at Lucknow, when the event took place. Expla¬ 
nation of this should be asked.”— Blue Book, page 210. 

But not one word is there in this book in answer. I 
presume Lord Canning never got it. Mr. Dorin, a member 
of the Council, next says :— 

“ The biting of the cartridge can only have been an excuse for 
mutiny, since I presume it is certain that no new rifles or greased car¬ 
tridge s have been served out to this local corps. 


24 


Major-General Low, another member of the Council, 
says :— 

“I cannot say with much precision all that ought, in my opinion 
to he done by orders of the Government, especially as it appears to 
me, that probably the main body of this regiment, in refusing to bite 
the cartridges, did so refuse, not from any feeling of disloyalty or 
disaffection towards the Government nr their officers, but from an 
unfeigned and sincere dread, owing to their belief in the late rumours 
about the construction of those cartridges, that the act of biting them 
would involve a serious injury to their caste and to their future respec¬ 
tability of character. In short , that if they were to bite these car¬ 
tridges they would be guilty of a heinous sin in a religious point of 
view”—Blue Book ,. page 211. 

Therefore you see that Major-General Low, after 
admitting that probably the men refused to bite the 
cartridges because they would be guilty of a heinous sin 
in a religious point of view, yet would punish them for 
refusing ! W hat are you to do with such men as these ? 
We have further the minute of Mr. Grant, also a member ■ 
of the Council, who says — 

“ Also, I agree with my honourable colleague General Low in 
thinking it probable, that the main body of these men may have 
refused to bite the cartridges, not from any feeling of disaffection, but 
from an unfeigned dread of losing caste, engendered by the stories 
regarding cartridges, which have been running like wildfire through 
the country lately. Sepoys are, in many respects, very much like 
children, and acts, which on the part of European soldiers would be 
proof of the blackest disloyalty, may have a different significance, 
when done by these credulous and inconsiderate, but generally not 
ill-disposed, beings. These men, taken from the late Oude army, can 
have learned as yet little of the vigour of British discipline; and 
although there can be no doubt that the cartridges, which they refused 
to bite were not the new cartridges, for the Enfield musket, which, by 
reason of the very culpable conduct of the Ordnance Department , have > 
caused all this excitement ; yet it may be presumed, that they were 
the first cartridges that these men were ever required to bite in their 
lives. Also there is no saying what extreme mismanagement there 
may have been on the part of the Commandant and Officers in the origin 
of the affair ; the mere fact of making cartridge-biting a point after 
it had been purposely dropped from the authorized system of drill , 
merely for rifle practice , is a presumption for any imaginable degree 
of perverse management ”—Blue Book , page 212. 

And Mr. Grant condemns the Sepoy to disbandment! 
But events were hurrying rapidly to a crisis. At the same 
time that this,was occurring in Oude, the same thing oc¬ 
curred at Meerut. It was not indeed stated in the Blue 
Book that the biting of the cartridge was attempted to be 
enforced there. But neither was it stated, which, of course, 
it would have been had it been possible, that the order 
abolishing biting had been carried into effect there, nor was 


it likely that it was, considering that Meerut was 300 miles 
further from Calcutta than Lucknow. In the first instance, 
seventeen recruits at Meerut were dismissed the service 
tor refusing to use the cartridge, and complaints were sent 
from head-quarters to Meerut that those men had not been, 
sufficiently punished :— 

s< Docket of a Letter dated May Qth, 1857, from the Adjutant-General 
of the Army to the Secretary to the Government of India. 

“ To prevent vague and exaggerated accounts of the mutinous 
conduct of some of the troops at Meerut, intimates that eighty-five 
out of the ninety men of the 3rd Light Cavalry armed with carbines 
having refused to receive the cartridges tendered to them, the Com- 
mander-in-Chief has ordered the trial of the whole of them by general 
court-martial, and a squad of artillery recruits (seventeen in number) 
having also reiused they were at once summarily dismissed bv the 
officer commanding the artillery at the station, a punishment which the 
Commander-in-Chief considers to he incommensurate to the offence , and 
his Excellency has caused the authorities concerned to he informed that 
the recruits should have been instantly placed in confinement in view to 
their trial by court-martial.”—Blue Book , page 175. 

What happened in a few days ? Ninety of the troops 
there were ordered to use the cartridge; 85 refused ! 
They were tried by court martial, and condemned to im¬ 
prisonment in irons for ten years* (Cries of “ shame.”) 


* “ I have (observes Col. Sykes) no hesitation in saying, from my 
personal knowledge of the classes of men constituting the Bengal army 
that a similar and equally sudden revolt might have occurred at any time 
in the last hundred years had the same dangerous religious chord been 
touched by rough and imprudent hands, as has been done recently, and this, 
too, although there had not been a missionary in India. It will be observed 
from the Parliamentary papers that the first uneasy feeling about the greased 
cartridges was manifested in January ; regiments mutinied and were disbanded 
in March and April, and without indications of combined hostile feelings 
against their European officers; and it was not until the 10th of May at Meerut, 
after the 85 troopers had been condemned en masse to ten years’ imprisonment 
in irons, with hard labour, as felons, for refusing to use suspected cartridges, 
that the Sepoys, for the first time in a hundred years, in combination, lifted their 
hands in exasperation against their officers to massacre them. The shock of 
the punishment was electric throughout 80,000 men; each Sepoy made the 
troopers' case his oton—it was resistance or supposed degradation , and, from 
that moment, a Bengal Sepoy was not to he trusted. * * * I must protest 

against the doctrine that a Sepoy army is not to be trusted for the future. Only 
respect their religious prejudices and keep faith with them, and you ensure 
fidelity. It is physically impossible that our small islands with their population 
of 28 millions can afford a perennial supply of troops to keep in subjection 181 
millions of people, dispersed over an area of 1,466,576 square miles. * * 

It is attributed to the Sepoys that they are using the greased cartridges 
against us, and consequently their objection to them is a subterfuge. The fact 
is, they have neither the Enfield rifle nor the greased cartridges, but are using 
‘ Brown Bess’ and the usual musket ammunition. Lastly, the public should 
know that the original phases of the military revolt have passed away, and that 
we have now to contend with a Mahommedan conspiracy, ramifying throughout 
India, and that the Sepoys are merely tools in the hands of our anc ^u and 
implacable enemies.” p 





26 


Tliis was on the 9th of May. On the 10th May the 
rest of the regiment rose in revolt, broke open the gaol, 
liberated their comrades and 1,200 felons besides. From 
that time everything was confusion, and rebellion was 
enacted from Calcutta to Lahore.' A gentleman in this room 
wrote these words in the Morning Herald, of 22nd Au¬ 
gust, 1856:— 

“ Once put forth, your hand, and touch what the Asiatic con¬ 
siders the ark of his honour, and you will have precisely what Russia 
requires, scenes like those of the Vellore Mutiny , enacted from Calcutta 
to Lahore .” 

But the story of infatuation is not yet completed. 
I must call your attention to the conduct of the Indian 
Government after the events of Meerut and Delhi. On May 
28th—(recollect the expressions of March 5th with regard to 
the biting of the cartridge, “a mere change of drill, with no 
appearance of concession to discontented men"’)—mark now 
the conduct of the Indian Government when the Sepoys had 
risen in revolt. On May 28th, a circular is issued recounting 
what the Government had done to quiet the minds of the 
Sepoys, when the following information is for the first time 
given :— 

“ An alteration ivas also made (in March) in the platoon exercise 
by which the ends of the cartridges were no longer to be placed in the 
mouth” 

The circular ends thus :— 

“ The above information is furnished for the use of officers in 
command of stations, regiments, or detachments, and they are hereby 
ordered to circulate it, and make it understood amongst all under their 
command, officers and men, without delay. 

“Every means is to be taken to do this effectually and imme¬ 
diately, both formally on parade, and privately in the quarters of 
every corps. And commanding officers are hereby directed to spare 
no pains to make their men, each Sepoy individually, fully aware of its 
contents.” 

There is no talk now of avoiding the appearance of 
concession to discontented men. A singular fact is revealed 
in this circular :— 

“From communications lately received by the Government, it 
seems that misapprehension regarding the cartridges is not confined 
to the Native troops. Some officers appear to believe that cartridges of 
the new kind, or made of unusual materials, have been issued to the 
army.” 

The circular adds :— 

“ This is quite erroneous. No cartridges for the new musket 
and no cartridge made of a new kind of paper, have at any time been 


27 


issued to any regiment of the army , nor is it the intention of Govern¬ 
ment that any should be issued.”— Blue Book , page 340. 

After this let me read to you a document of the fatal 
date of May 4th :— 

“ The Adjutant-General of the A rmy , to the Secretary to the Govern¬ 
ment of India. 

“ Head-Quarters, Simla, May 4, 1857. 

“Sir, —Referring to previous correspondence regarding the 
target practice of the Native detachments at the several rifle depots, 
the Commander-in-Chief considers it will be satisfactory to the Right 
Honorable the Governor-General in Council to learn that at all three 
depots the practice has been commenced, and that the men of all 
grades have unhesitatingly and cheerfully used the new cartridges.” 

Now for the distinction between “The Army" and 
“ Any Regiment of the Army." 

“ In communicating this information to his Lordship, I am to 
beg you will be good enough to add that a confidential circular has 
been addressed to officers commanding regiments, enjoining upon them 
to take every precaution in their power to prevent the depot men> 
upon their rejoining their corps , being subjected to any taunting or 
ill-usage from their comrades with reference to their having used the 
Enfield rifle cartridges at the depots. 

* * T ha vp Sj p 

«C. CHESTER, Colonel.” 

[ Blue Book , page 270.] 

On May 14th, ten days after, proceeds the following 
from the same quarter :— 

“ Adjutant General’s Office, Head Quarters, 
Simla, May 14, 1857* 

“ Sir, —The Commander-in-Chief desires that all firing for drill 
or target practice purposes shall be suspended until further orders. 

“ It is to be thoroughly explained to the men, that the sole 
object of this order is to soothe their minds, now so excited, and also 
to remove the possibility of their being supposed by their comrades 
at other stations, or by the people at their homes, to be using any 
objectionable cartridges. 

^ T ho VP fij P 

“ C.’ CHESTER, Colonel, 

[ Blue Book , page 44.] “ Adj utant-General of the Army.” 

On May 19th, the cartridge is withdrawn altogether, 
whether greased or ungreased, torn or bitten :— 

General Orders by the Commander-in-Chief. 

“ Head Quarters, Umballah, May 19,1857. 

“ The Commander-in-Chief on the 14th of May issued an order, 
informing the Native army that it had never been the intention of the 
Government to force them to use any cartridges which could be ob¬ 
jected to ; that they never would be, either now or hereafter. His 
object in publishing that order was to allay the excitement which has 
been raised in their minds, although he felt there was no real cause for 


28 


it. He hopes that this may have been the case ; but he still perceives 
that the very name of greased cartridges causes agitation, and he has been 
informed that some of those Sepoys who entertain the strongest attach¬ 
ment and loyalty to the Government, and are ready at any moment to 
obey his orders, would still be under the apprehension that their family 
would not believe that they were not in some way or other contami¬ 
nated by its nse. The rifle introduced into the British army is an im¬ 
provement upon the old musket, and much more effective; but it 
would not be of the same advantage in the hands of the Native army 
if it was to be used with reluctance. Notwithstanding, therefore, that 
the Government have affirmed that the cartridges are perfectly harm¬ 
less, he is satisfied that they would not desire to persist in the use of 
them if the feelings of the Sepoys can be thereby calmed. His Excel¬ 
lency therefore has determined that the new cartridges shall be dis¬ 
continued. He announces this to the Native army, in the full confi¬ 
dence that all will now perform their duty free from anxiety and care, 
and be prepared to stand and shed the last drop of their blood, as they 
have formerly done, by the side of the British troops, and in defence 
of their country.”— B,ue Book , page 357. 

The last thing I have to lay before you is an attempt 
vainly made by the Lieut.-Governor of the North-Western 
Provinces to save India. Agra, the capital, is between 
Delhi and Lucknow, and the very centre of the disturbed 
district. Mr. Colvin, the Lieutenant-Governor, was one of 
the most eminent and excellent men of the Indian civil 
service. Since the event I am about to detail he is 
lead. For good men, in such stations and in such times,, 
there is a peculiar malady—a broken heart:— 

“The Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces to the Go¬ 
vernor-General of India in Council. 

“ (Telegraphic.) “ Agra, May 24. 7 p.m. 

“ On the mode of dealing with the mutineers, I would stre¬ 
nuously oppose general severity towards all. Such a course would, as 
we are unanimously convinced by a knowledge of the feeling of the 
people, acquired amongst them from a variety of sources, estrange the 
remainder of the army. Hope, I am firmly convinced, should be field 
out to all those who were not ringleaders or actively concerned in mur¬ 
der and violence. Many are in the rebels’ ranks because they could 
not get away ; many certainly thought we were tricking them out of 
their caste ; and this opinion is held, however unwisely, by the mai-s of 
the population, and even by some of the more intelligent classes. Never 
was delusion more wide or deep. Many of the best soldiers in the army, 
amongst others of its most faithful section, the Irregular Cavalry, sho w 
a marked reluctance to engage in a v’ar against men whom they believe 
to have been misled on the point of religious honor. A tone of general 
menace wmuld, I am persuaded, be w^rong. The Commander-in-Chief 
should, in my view, be authorized to act upon the above line of policy ; 
and when means of escape are thus open to those who can be admitted 
to mercy, the remnant will be considered obstinate traitors even by 
their own countrymen , who will have no hesitation in aiding aqainst 
them . I request the earliest answ T er to this message. The subject is 
of vital and pressing importance.”— Blue Book, page 331. 


29 


On May 25tb he issued the following proclamation 

<( Soldiers engaged in the late disturbances who are desirous of 
going to their own homes, and who give up their arms at the nearest 
Government civil or military post, and retire quietly, shall be per¬ 
mitted to do so unmolested. 

“ Many faithful soldiers have been driven into resistance to Go¬ 
vernment only because they were in the ranks and could not escape 
Irom them, and because they really thought their feelings of religion 
and honor injured by the measures of Government. This feeling was 
wholly a mistake, but it acted on men’s minds. A proclamation of 
the Governor-General now issued is perfectly explicit and will remove 
all doubts on these points. Every evil-minded instigator in the dis¬ 
turbance, and those guilty of heinous crimes against private persons, 
shall be punished. AH those who appear in arms against the Govern- 
men, alter this notification is known, shall be treated as open enemies.” 
—Blue Book , page 332. 

This proclamation was immediately disavowed by Lord 
Canning, and Mr. Colvin's anticipations realized. 

I have to thank you for the attention which you have 
given to these weary details. I dared not have stated that 
the mutiny of the Bengal army had been caused by these 
cartridges, unless I adduced the evidence. Is it not astonish¬ 
ing that you should come here in the month of Novem¬ 
ber to hear these facts from me ? In the month of July 
all this was laid before Parliament. I have only given you 
a portion of the evidence; every part of it is to the same 
effect. It stares at you from every page of these volumes 
—‘‘ the cartridge, the cartridge, the cartridge,” the cry of 
the dying Sepoy !* There are 650 members in the House 
of Commons ; there is a House of Lords, and a Press, the 
instructor of the country. Mr. Disraeli assured the House 
of Commons the rise and fall of empires was not an affair of 
greased cartridges—drawing men's minds away from the con¬ 
templation of the truth in the outset. The Duke of Cambridge, 
at Sheffield, the other day said that “70,000 men had mu¬ 
tinied nobody knew whyLord Shaftesbury more recently 
has said, these men had no wrong to complain of, and put for¬ 
ward none. You have read the report of the public meeting in 
Newcastle, as well as of the speeches of the members of par¬ 
liament there, and of statesmen from end to end of the king¬ 
dom, and yet not a word of the Case, as set forth in 
the official documents, have they acquainted you with.-f- 


* Orders were given to interrogate the wounded at Delhi as to the 
cause of mutiny, the universal answer was “ the cartridge, the cartridge, the 
cartridge.” It was stated in the Times that the Sepoys killed allot' their own 
number who were wounded with the Enfield cartridge. 

f Colonel Sykes and General Thompson are the only exceptions. 




30 


I do not say that there are not other causes of dis¬ 
affection in India. There are other grievances which 
have turned men's minds against us; but this mutiny 
we would not have had but for the greased cartridges. 
{Applause). Is it not dreadful to think that a large portion 
of the world should be plunged into bloodshed, misery, and 
ruin from such a cause ? Can “ perverse management" equal 
this in any page of the history of the world ? I know 
of none like it ! To think that the carrying out of a 
point of discipline (of no consequence whatever to us) 
should have shaken this ; empire! I declare that, as an 
Englishman, I am ready to sink into the ground with shame 
when I think of these things. (Applause). But the more 
shame do I feel that my countrymen should be ignorant of 
them. There is a conspiracy to prevent you knowing the truth. 
The government has the London Press m its hands, with few 
exceptions. The English people, instead of inquiring them¬ 
selves, trust to it, not suspecting that it may be worked by 
men whose object is to deceive them. Thus it becomes 
possible that these documents may be published and people 
know nothing about them. The Times can publish in one 
column the letter of Colonel Sykes, explaining the thing 
so clearly that there can be no misapprehending it, and in 
another column a leading article telling the people that 
the Sepoys had no cause of complaint, knowing perfectly 
well that the anonymous article would be believed, and the 
authenticated statement of Col. Sykes disregarded. {Hear, 
hear). Some time ago, in London, I saw an extraordinary 
machine. It was a talking machine. It had the form of a 
man, and lips that moved. The inventor sat behind a 
screen and played on notes like a piano. The machine 
spoke four languages, and sung songs. It is the type of the 
Englishman of the present day, with the finger of the Times 
behind him, playing on his organs. These things could 
not have been possible but for the cry “ Don't enquire." 
We are told not to enquire till the proper time has come. 
When the “ proper" time does come, all that will be neces¬ 
sary will be to sacrifice the East India Company. The people 
will be made to believe they are discharging their duty by 
abolishing the East India Company. Now, upon that point 
they are as much misled as they are with regard to 
the cause of the mutiny. It would take another lecture 
to go into this folly. Since the institution of the Board of 
Control by Mr. Pitt, the governing power has not been in 
the hands of the East India Company, but of the Eoard o** 


31 


Control, which is simply an alias for Prime Minster. 
The really responsible parties are the Board of Control,— 
in point of fact, the government of England. These men 
having accepted these acts, have become responsible for 
them. I have no hope that anything I can say will 
have any effect on the course of affairs in India. I 
only hope that it may awaken some of you to a sense 
of your duties. For these things there can he no remedy, 
save by the old-fashioned process of impeachment. When 
anything wrong is done, it is always said you must change 
the system. If I found my cashier robbing me, and I were 
to believe the mischief would be remedied by changing the 
system, how long do you think I should be in getting into 
the Gazette ? A man of business dismisses or prosecutes 
a faithless clerk. Why not pursue the same course in the 
affairs of the nation ? Because, being slaves in heart, you 
cannot realize to yourselves that you are the principals, and 
the Prime Minister and Government your servants. You 
how down before the Minister as the Hindoo bows .down 
before Juggernaut. A nation that cannot understand that 
its duty and its safety require that a clear case of delin¬ 
quency on the part of its servant s, whether that delinquency 
arises from gross incapacity, wilful neglect, or treachery, 
should be met with retribution on the heads of the offenders, 
has ceased to he a community of men. 


32 


POSTSCRIPT. 


Since delivering this Lecture I have obtained that 
information as to the circumstances of the, outbreak at 
Meerut which is not given in the official documents. 

The substance of it is, that the Sepoys were not 
themselves alarmed about the cartridges—but begged 
that the issue cf them might be temporarily deferred, 
on the ground that the intensity of the religious panic, 
prevailing at that time throughout Bengal, would sub¬ 
ject them to contumely, and expose them to the danger 
of loss of caste, in case they were known to have used 
them in any way. It was not attempted to enforce the 
biting at Meerut, as in the case of Lucknow, but the ! 
perfect truth of the statement of the Sepoys is attested 
by General Anson's own order of May 19th ; “the very 
name of greased cartridges causes agitation." 

The mutiny at Meerut was the direct consequence of 
his order of May 4th, issued with perfect knowledge of 
the existence of that state of things, as will be seen on 
referring back to it. 

General Anson was informed from Meerut, by Com¬ 
pany’s officers, that mutiny would probably follow the 
attempt to enforce that order. The men having in vain 
begged for time to be given, to allow agitation to subside, 
refused to receive the cartridges. They were tried by 
court martial, and their petition for delay was put in 
evidence. All who had served above three years were 
condemned to ten years’ imprisonment; all who had 
served less, to five years. The irons were fixed upon 
them at a parade of the troops, three hours being occupied 
by the process, and they were then marched to gaol. 

General Anson, the Commander-in-Chief, was in the 
Royal Army, as was also his subordinate in command at 
Meerut. 




i 












